


Picnics and Proposals; in which Hoya tries to propose and Woohyun is an arse

by beccabarnes



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 16:10:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6159256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beccabarnes/pseuds/beccabarnes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say proposals are stressful but there's the small comfort of only having to deal with that stress once (or at least, only once per marriage). Unfortunately, as Hoya is quickly discovering, that isn’t necessarily true for him.</p><p>Tl;dr: Hoya tries to propose to Dongwoo but something comes up. Every. Single. Time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Picnics and Proposals; in which Hoya tries to propose and Woohyun is an arse

∞

**One**

Hoya had a plan. As far as proposal plans went, it was a pretty good plan. And Hoya was absolutely convinced that it would've gone on without a hitch had it been for just one tiny little oversight.

(And really, you could hardly blame him for a tiny little oversight.)

The thing about plans is that when they involve more than one person, it helps if everyone is on the plan. It helps a lot. Unfortunately, only Hoya knew what the plan was. (Actually, only Hoya even knew there even _was_ a plan.) Everyone else – as in Dongwoo and Dongwoo’s family – thought it was just dinner.

The situation was unfortunate all around. (Or Hoya was just bad at plans but _that_ was miserable to think about so he decided it was definitely the situation that was unfortunate.)

He was at Dongwoo's house, having dinner with the entire Jang family – plus a few extras. This was all part of his plan because when he did finally ask Dongwoo to marry him, wouldn’t it be perfect for Dongwoo to be surrounded by his parents and his noonas? Everyone he loved all there together and they could celebrate together afterwards! It would be a joyous and lovely affair and surely Dongwoo would say yes because they'd been dating since _forever_ , and they’d even talked about marriage it was the obvious next step, and it was really about time.

(Hoya was still sweating buckets. Dongwoo, of course, was being an absolute sweetheart and pretending he hadn’t noticed. Or, more likely, he really hadn’t noticed.)

Between shovelling rice into his mouth, Dongwoo had been casting questioning glances at his boyfriend and Hoya had smiled nervously back every time. Earlier in the evening, he had fumbled with his suit jacket for so long that Dongwoo had come over (looking dashingly handsome) to do it up for him.

"What's wrong with you?" he had teased, "It's just my parents. You met them ages ago."

Hoya tried to smile and nod but it probably came out as more of a grimace with the way his stomach was churning and Dongwoo had gave him a reassuring pat but let it go, thank goodness.

Dongwoo's parents had greeted him warmly and Hoya had started slightly when he noticed that Kkotip had brought along her boyfriend. Hoya had met him a couple of times and he was a nice enough fellow, if rather intimidating, and while it didn't exactly change his plan (just a tiny little oversight after all), it did shake his resolve. There was another person there to watch him potentially fail and most definitely trip over his words and look like an idiot – ignoring of course that Dongwoo was _surely_ going to say yes.

By the time dessert came around, Hoya was an unattractive shade of pale green – a colour that bore a strange resemblance to Dongwoo's old backpack. Dongwoo looked more concerned than ever and had been rubbing Hoya's thigh under the table, trying to offer some misguided comfort. Really, all it did was make Hoya more anxious because if Dongwoo's hands moved even six centimetres higher, he'd feel the small box that was the cause of this giant mess he had become anyway.

Finally, Hoya decided to just steel his nerves and get down onto the ground already. But just as he was putting his chopsticks down, Kkotip cleared her throat and said she had an announcement.

Both her boyfriend and her were standing and beaming at each other and Hoya could feel his heart sinking. He didn't think he particularly liked where this was going--

"We’re getting married!!"

Nope, he definitely didn't like where that went.

Wearing a tight smile, he shoved the box deeper into his pocket while going through the motions of congratulations. He was happy for Kkotip, really, and Dongwoo looked beyond excited but well, wasn't today supposed to be their day? He could hardly carry through with the plan anymore (and all because Kkotip decided to bring her boyfriend!) so Hoya bit his tongue and allowed Dongwoo to drive them home, listening to the excited chatter his boyfriend kept up about wedding guests and cake and future nieces and nephews.

Hoya slumped a little deeper into the pillow, feeling guilty, feeling cheated of his special night, but also feeling a slight twinge of relief that his nerve-wracking and scarring moment had not yet come to pass.

∞

**Two**

The second time, Hoya made sure there weren't any family members around to bring up another unexpected surprise. He didn't need any divorces, engagements, or even promotions to spoil it this time. It was going to be perfect and he had stayed up most of the night preparing the picnic. Much to his chagrin, despite all his effort, Hoya still had to call Woohyun for help.

Needless to say, Woohyun wasn't happy with being woken up at three in the morning (actually, he had been about to hang up as soon as he heard that no one was hurt) but Hoya can be convincing when he needs to be. And Hoya’s proposal is a lot more important than Woohyun’s sleep. The only real regret Hoya has is telling Woohyun why he needed a picnic basket – this entire plan was supposed to be a secret but Woohyun promised not to tell (after gleefully giggling and calling Hoya an old sod) and he really needed his help and everyone would know by tonight anyway.

With the picnic basket packed and the little box back in his pocket, Hoya went to meet Dongwoo for lunch. Holding up the basket, he asked, "Dongwoo-ah, what do you say to eating outside today?"

He actually dropped his cracker in excitement, "Okay!" because Dongwoo could never say no to Hoya and a picnic with his lover and best friend? It was perfection. "What's the occasion?"

And Hoya smiled mysteriously, rather enjoying this time around now that he knew there wouldn't be anyone around to watch, before saying, "You'll see."

The grass was green and the birds were singing and it might as well be a snapshot from a movie as they laid out the picnic blanket. They were even lucky enough to have cloud cover from the sun so they wouldn't be squinting at each other through the meal. Everything was lovely.

The food may have even been a little too lovely because Dongwoo called Hoya out on getting help, teasing him for needing Woohyun to help make a simple sandwich. Hoya pouted and shook his head, only able to protest with a light, "Hey!" but all he was thinking was that everything had to be perfect for Dongwoo, even if it was just a simple sandwich.

This time, everything was perfect and he even managed to get the little box out of his pocket (without Dongwoo noticing; he was rather preoccupied with his yo-yo) and was ready to shift into a kneeling position when the cloud cover he had been so thankful for earlier became everything he didn't want.

Sometimes, it rains lightly and then largely and you have time to run for a tree. Other times, the lightening starts unexpectedly and you're drenched within a moment. The fat drops of water came tumbling down and Hoya had no choice but to hastily stuff the box back into his pocket, praying that it wasn't ruined in the rain. The two of them dumped everything into the basket and ran for shelter but by the time they got there, everything was soaked anyway and Hoya was cursing the universe.

Dongwoo, on the other hand, was laughing gleefully, exclaiming, "Did you see, did you see? It came down so quickly! Now we're both wet. We should probably head home, ah?"

And Hoya agreed glumly. They were wet already so what was the harm in walking in the rain? Hoya walked with a fist around the box and the other fist around the basket. He wished he had a third hand to grab Dongwoo's partially because he liked holding his hand and partially because the overgrown kid was hopping through puddles and twirling under the raindrops. Hoya wasn't sure if it was his imagination or reality but he was pretty sure all the water Dongwoo was splashing up was going straight to that fragile little box in his pocket.

Later that night when Woohyun called to ask how it went, Dongwoo answered the phone and was in the middle of asking, "How what went--?" when Hoya snatched the phone from him and hissed, "Shut up, you bastard," before hanging up violently.

It was a good thing he did because someone was going to get a visit late at night to have his face punched in if Hoya had heard the response of explosive laughter and teasing of, "you complete chicken".

∞

**Three**

The third time, Hoya's got tickets to a theatre showing of Romeo and Juliet modern interpretation. Really, all he knows about Romeo and Juliet is that it's a classic love story because if they ever studied it in class, he'd been too busy choreographing to phantom songs to really pay attention.

Hoya's heard it's a tragic story, sure, but Hoya figures it's romantic too and romantic is always good for a proposal, right? Classic love story sounds like a good backdrop to a good proposal to him.

By the end of the show, Dongwoo is bawling into his shoulder and Hoya's done his own share of weeping, too. When Dongwoo sniffs pathetically and rubs his eyes, Hoya wordlessly hands him a tissue and takes one for himself.

"That was good," Dongwoo offers a watery smile and Hoya nods stiffly, his hands clenching on the box in his pocket. "Didn't you say you had something to tell me after the show?"

Hoya thinks about just getting it over with but then Dongwoo breaks into a wave of fresh sobs and Hoya shakes his head thickly and says, "Naw. I forget. Next time."

Dongwoo looks at him with an expression he can't quite place, but nods.

∞

**Four**

The fourth time, Hoya texts Dongwoo that he won't be able to make it to their weekly Infinite gathering. Dongwoo replies back with a simple 'ok c u tmr' with none of his usual emoticons and Hoya spends a good minute just looking at his phone screen before slamming his book shut and going to the dance studio for an hour or two.

He knew a proposal is stressful for most people but the universe is going above and beyond for making things stressful for him.

Once he's sweaty and clear-headed again, he checks his phone and finds 3 angry texts from Woohyun demanding an explanation for why he isn't going to be there tonight. Hoya rolls his eyes and texts back furiously, "im gna be late ok? gna surprise him" because Woohyun knew anyway and what was the harm?

When he arrives at Woohyun and Sunggyu's place in a suit, Woohyun answers the door and bursts out laughing.

"Who is it? What's so funny-- Oh." Sunggyu appears behind him and smiles at Hoya, "You look good. Good luck. Come on in."

Hoya sends a glare at Woohyun and hisses, "You told him?" but he comes in anyway, carefully nudging his shoes off. Woohyun just shrugs and smiles.

"Dongwoo-ahh, you're _boooyfriiiiend_ is here!" Hoya punches him and Woohyun whispers, "What? You don't like boyfriend? Should I use fiancee?"

He punches Woohyun again, "Shut up."

"Hoya! I thought you weren't coming! Why are you wearing a suit?"

"Yeah, Hoya. Why _are_ you wearing a suit? Busy signing _proposals_ at work?"

Hoya punches Woohyun for a third time, takes a minute to deeply regret coming at all, and answers Dongwoo, "I was supposed to work late but I finished a little earlier than expected so I just came over."

Dongwoo gives him another one of those strange looks and nods, "Well, I'm glad you're here." Hoya smiles.

The seven of them are sprawled in front of the TV, which is on mute. Sungjong is gesturing wildly as he talks about his subway trip to Myungsoo, who is leaning against Sungyeol as he jokes with Woohyun, who keeps looking at Hoya with a fairly creepy smile.

"--and then I just told him to do it himself because I didn't have the time to deal with his pretentious ass."

Woohyun snorts, "You should've told him to shove it up his pretentious ass or something."

Laughing, Sungyeol replies, "Maybe." Seeing that Hoya is looking (glaring) at Woohyun (and him), he calls out, "Hoya, did you see the new group that just debuted? Shooting Star or Moon or whatever? What'd you think of the new 'dance machine'? Got nothing on you, right?"

"Do you hate how he took your title? You probably feel rather attached to it, almost _married_ , right?" Of course Woohyun needed his two cents.

Very pointedly, Hoya looks straight at Sungyeol to answer, "Nah, I can't keep up with the new groups but I'm sure if he managed to debut, he's pretty good? Competition is crazy these days."

Woohyun, not the least bit deterred by the lack of attention, grins and says, "You really have to put a ring on it if you want to succeed."

Scowling, Hoya replies, "That didn't even make sense." Sungyeol looks between the two of them confused and asks, "Did I miss something?"

"Nope," Woohyun is positively beaming, "Let's watch a movie, guys. Sunggyu keeps saying he wants to re-watch _The Proposal_ but we never do."

"I do not!" Sunggyu is scowling.

Woohyun is grinning at Hoya as he holds up the DVD triumphantly. "Let's just watch it, I think Hoya wants to, too. And," he looks at Sunggyu briefly, "Yes you do. You said it just this morning, actually."

Two pillows hit Woohyun rather violently. He just laughs and pops the disk in.

After the movie, Woohyun just keeps grinning at Hoya and Hoya's feeling a little sick and since when was doing something as serious as a proposal in front of Woohyun a good idea? And he just totally ruined it with the movie and Woohyun is seriously the world's biggest, worst--

"I'm going home," Dongwoo, who's spent the better part of two hours trying to cuddle with Hoya (who was busy glaring at Woohyun), suddenly announces and Hoya turns around, rather alarmed. Dongwoo smiles weakly and shakes his head, "I'm just tired. I'll see you guys next week."

And then he's gone so Hoya aims another kick at Woohyun's head before heading to the door himself, vowing to screw with Woohyun's future proposal (because seriously, who were they kidding, everyone knew it was coming) as much as possible. But Sunggyu had given him a concerned look and a genuine apology for Woohyun's behavior that Hoya amended it to screwing with Woohyun's future life as much as possible.

(A couple months later, Woohyun comes home to an angry Sunggyu who swears up and down that Woohyun had texted him he'd be home early and would make dinner. Unknowingly, that one backfired on Hoya because a pouting Sunggyu was probably the most adorable thing Woohyun had ever seen. And he's seen a lot of adorable things ~~like himself every morning in the mirror~~.)

∞

**Five**

The fifth time, Hoya's learned his lesson about trusting Woohyun or any other people for that matter. Woohyun has been carefully informed that Hoya was working late and Dongwoo was visiting his mother. Nothing and no one would be able to bother their quite time at home.

It would be good for them (engagement aside) because with how much planning and stressing that has gone into this, Hoya has hardly spent a fair amount of time with his boyfriend (and future spouse?) so time for just the two of them being lazy and domestic was definitely needed.

Dongwoo had been the one to propose they try cooking. As he pointed out, they couldn't always go to Sunggyu's place for Woohyun's cooking, eventually they'd have to learn to be self-sufficient. Hoya's heart had swelled as he had agreed. 'Eventually' meant that they'd be together for a long time, after all. The chances of a 'yes' were getting a little higher in Hoya's head.

They actually aren't too incompetent at cooking. Sure there's that brief incident with the mushrooms and the small issue with the peppers but in the end, the pasta they've made looks decently edible and if it's a little salty, neither of them mind too much because it's all rather perfect, isn't it?

Dongwoo grins and Hoya wants desperately to smile broadly back but all his confidence from earlier in the night has vanished as the end of the meal draws closer. Pretty soon, he'll be down on one knee and things will become that much more nerve-wracking. So all he manages is a tight smile and tries to pass it off with a wince, "It's kind of salty."

"A little bit." Dongwoo's voice is soft as he drops his eyes back to his plate and takes another small bite.

Just like that, the atmosphere seems to have dropped ten degrees. Hoya is suddenly extremely aware of how loudly he chews and _seriously what is in this pasta this is not Italian cooking if it's this hard to chew was it always this_ chewy _?!_

They both start as the opening notes of Trouble Maker sound from the closet and Hoya's heart is clenching as Dongwoo's face shows nothing but poorly hidden relief as he goes to fetch his phone from the pocket of his coat.

"Hello?"

Hoya takes the opportunity to dump his plate into the trash because he's pretty sure he can't eat another bite.

"What? Are you sure?"

He hastily wipes his sweaty palms against his jeans before pulling the (now rather worn) box out.

"No, no, it's okay. Don't worry."

Flipping the top open, he looks down on the ring. It's nice. Well, Hoya thinks its nice for now. If Dongwoo hates it, he'll probably hate it too.

"...O-ok," Dongwoo's voice is shaky and Hoya finally tunes into the conversation. "I'm coming."

When Hoya leaves the kitchen, it's to the sight of Dongwoo pulling on his coat. His eyes look a little lost and he doesn't meet Hoya's eyes as he says, "I have to go out for a bit. My sister needs me."

The door snaps shut behind him and Hoya puts the box away. He hates that ring.

∞

**Six**

When Dongwoo comes home, his eyes are rimmed with red but they're still lit up as he smiles at Hoya and says, "It's alright, she had a bit of a scare. Everything's fine." He giggles a little, and Hoya finds it the most endearing thing in the world as he walks over to pull Dongwoo to his chest.

"Sorry I ruined our dinner."

Hoya just shakes his head, "It's ok, we can do it again some other time."

Dongwoo gives a small sigh of content and nods. "The kitchen isn't running anywhere." And then he giggles again because well, what if it _could_ run? And then he thinks of Woohyun's joke about the running refrigerator and suddenly, he's full out laughing and Hoya is bemused but smiling and to him, Dongwoo is just _perfect_.

By the time Dongwoo has calmed down, they've made it to the bedroom and Hoya is leaning forward to kiss him, thinking that perhaps he can salvage his proposal after all. Their lips meet--

Hoya's suddenly pushed back so violently he falls on top of the bed (and while this has happened many, many times before, it's never happened quite so violently in the middle of a kiss and something feels so _wrong_ ). For the first time in a long time, Hoya's actually scared of Dongwoo. So cheerful and full of laughter just five minutes ago, Dongwoo is now just shaking shoulders and watery eyes.

"Dongwoo..." Hoya's voice comes out so quiet he's surprised anyone can hear it. "What's wrong? Is it your sister?"

Wordlessly, Dongwoo shakes his head and refuses to meet Hoya's eyes, "I just... sorry."

Hoya sleeps on the couch that night, the ring box painfully digging into his hip.

∞

**Seven**

When Hoya wakes up the next morning, it's to the sound of a crash.

Groggily, he sits up and sees Dongwoo battling with a suitcase that had fallen from the top shelf of their closet. Slowly, the rest of the room comes into focus. Dongwoo's clothes piled on the table, Dongwoo's backpack stuffed even fuller than usual, his CDs packed away in plastic bags, and a cold, icy sort of feeling is filling Hoya.

He's almost too scared to ask but he's more scared not to ask. "Are you- are you leaving me?"

"I-" Hoya can see Dongwoo hesitating and for a split second, Hoya allows the warm glow of hope to envelope him-- a trip together? A surprise vacation? "I just need t-to go somewhere. For a little bit. I'll be back."

And Hoya's plunged right back into the icy water. He's not sure he can get his tongue to quite work and his voice sounds thick when he finally manages, "But why?" He's starting to feel something bubbling inside of him, hot and raw as he springs up from the coach and there's nothing thick about his voice anymore, just frantic desperation. "What did I do?"

Dongwoo finally looks up and he's just soso confused because Hoya's been nothing but sweet to him for the past seven years and yet these last four months have been anything but sweet and clear and he'd felt as though Hoya had been pulling away and he _knew_ there was something being kept from him but he was Dongwoo and he figured Hoya would tell him when he was ready but Dongwoo can't wait forever for something that might never be coming and he knew Sungyeol had been joking when he brought up a girl at work but Dongwoo knows when his boyfriend is lying to him and it's been so long and the doubt had been eating away at his mind and he just _doesn't know anything any more_ because if Hoya didn't want him these past couple of months, why was he looking at him like this now when Dongwoo had finally decided to do something good for himself and he can't even see anymore through his great, heaving sobs and Hoya is there and he's so warm and solid and wholly _there_ and Dongwoo's just lost and dazed and soso confused.

"D-Do you still love me?" How he manages to be intelligible between hiccups and sobs is a slight miracle.

"Wh-what? Of course I do! Dongwoo, where is this coming from, you _know_ I love you--"

"We never d-do anything together and you're hiding something a-and--"

Hoya almost chokes on air and there's a rather unpleasant image that pops into his head where a cartoon version of himself is hitting him repeated on the head with a shovel. He pushes Dongwoo away (and if it's a little harder than he meant it to be, it was because his arms were shaking and he could hardly get a grip on anything) and goes back to the couch, digging around under the cushions.

Dongwoo's quieted to slightly more muffled sobs now but he's still blubbering nonsensical phrases like, "someone else" and "don't know" but then he blinks and Hoya's on his knees with the box (now with the ribbon peeling and a questionable stain on the right face) and a silver band twisted into an infinity symbol.

"I'm sorry." Hoya's voice is quiet. "I've been trying to do this for a long time but stuff just kept screwing up. It's what I've been keeping from you and I swear I still love you and I didn't mean to keep it from you for so long but the opportunity never seemed right and will you," His mouth is feeling extremely dry and he's not quite sure he can choke the words up. After the disaster of pushing Dongwoo away for so long, the 'yes' seems further away than ever and even if the box says it all, the words just won't come out of his mouth.

With a great deal of difficulty, Hoya swallowed and tried again. "I mean. I just. Will you m-m-- I love you a lot. M-marry?" He's close to tears now because Dongwoo still hasn't moved and he definitely hasn't said anything and normally he can read every emotion in Dongwoo's eyes but right now, he has no idea what those ~~beautiful beautiful~~ eyes fixed on him is expressing at all.

"Just... don't go. Please." His words are soft, like it was strangling to string them together coherently with all the emotions and thoughts going on in his head and everything about his is screaming distress and desperate longing.

Giggling. That's what Dongwoo does first and Hoya almost falls over as his body sags in relief.

He drops to his knees and presses a kiss to Hoya's sweaty forehead and whispers, "Yes. Let's get married."

∞

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this on LJ in 2014 but I wrote it I think in 2013 for a friend's birthday.
> 
> My original A/N were: "LOL so this is a mess. I fully confess to it being a mess. I wrote it more than a year ago for a friend's birthday and just never got around to editing it and it's still not edited and every time I edit it I get to the end of scene one and I'm like: I can't do this. So... it's a mess. But I'm going to post it anyway because I don't want to think about it anymore."
> 
> Everything there is still true but I think it was quite a fun bit of writing anyway even if it is a mess. I just don't have the energy to edit something from 3+ years ago to my current standards so please don't judge my current writing from it. I'm just slowly trying to import everything from LJ so I can get rid of the travesty of a journal.


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